And When I Look Back... (HiruMamo, Eyeshield 21, #21 - violence; pillage, plunder, extortion)
Theme 21: violence; pillage/plunder; extortion
Hiruma x Mamori
Youichi Hiruma had always been known around Deimon High School as a belligerent tyrant. A demon, a devil, and someone who would blackmail anyone without batting an eye. His book of threats was a constant accessory dangling in his pocket, and he often had a large pen on hand, ready to jot down whatever he heard.
Hiruma had been this way for as long as he could remember. It was natural behavior to him, so of course if there had been any drastic change, he probably would have missed it.
“Hiruma?”
Hiruma looked up to Kurita, his teammate and friend, smiling at him from one of the chairs in the Deimon Devil Bats American Football clubhouse. Hiruma was sitting on a stool, typing away on his computer. He looked up at Kurita’s calling. “What is it, damn fatty?”
“This is for you,” he told him, passing him a letter. Hiruma’s eyes widened and he took it with his long fingers. “It was left in here. Do you think it could be…?”
“A LOVE LETTER FOR HIRUMA?! MAXI-SHOCK!” screamed the team’s receiver, Raimon Taro, otherwise known as Monta.
“Monta-kun!” Sena covered his ears as his friend screamed loudly. “That hurts my ears!” Sena was a petite boy who acted as one of the managers of the Deimon Devilbats. However, in truth, he was secretly the ace running back by the alias of Eyeshield 21. After donning the tinted eyeshield as well as his uniform, Sena had spent as long as he could remember hiding his identity.
“Who’s it from?” Monta asked, stepping forward. Hiruma opened the letter and read it silently. His eyes widened and he closed the letter, placing it in his pocket.
“None of your damn business, damn monkey.” Hiruma stood up and walked towards the clubhouse door. “I’m going out for a bit. As for you damn pipsqueaks…” Hiruma gave a devilish grin. “I want you BOTH to run fifty laps around the school!”
“WHAT?”
“MAXI-SHOCK!”
“What? You don’t want to do it…?” Hiruma grinned evilly. He took a deep breath and braced himself for what was coming next. “CERBERUS!”
In less then a moment, the team’s devil dog, Cerberus was on the heels of Sena and Monta, chasing them out of the clubhouse and around the school. Hiruma laughed maniacally as he watched the two go.
“So is it a love letter?” Kurita asked and Hiruma turned to him.
“Something like that…” Hiruma shrugged. With that, Hiruma rounded on his heel and began to walk out of the clubhouse.
***
“Kosuki-kun, give me your cupcake!”
“Huh? No way Hiruma!” Kosuki complained. It was the usual afternoon at the Amefuto elementary school. The fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were all eating lunch, and, just as usual, Hiruma, the nastiest kid in the fourth grade, was bullying the other students. “I want to eat my cupcake!”
“All this over a silly cupcake?” Hiruma grinned, taking out a small black book from his backpack. Written on the front of the book in sloppy lettering were the words “THRET BOOK”. (Hiruma kept forgetting to look up “threat” in the dictionary.) “Hmm, you wouldn’t want me to tell Namiko-sensei that you were the one who forgot to feed Mamo the goldfish, would you?”
“Here, have it…” Kosuki’s lower lip trembled as he handed over the cupcake to Hiruma, who greedily devoured it in one bite.
“Minoru-kun, give me your homework!” Hiruma held out his chocolate frosting covered hand to a pudgy boy in the class who was currently drinking his milk.
“That’s cheating, Youichi-kun!” Minoru spluttered, only to be hit with a spray of water from a water gun.
“Shut up damn pudgy!” Hiruma shouted, and the fifth graders gasped.
“Hiruma said a bad word!”
“Damn babies! Stop your damn whining and give me all your deserts! If you don’t, I’ll tell the Principal that you guys carved the holes in the slide with rocks!”
Hiruma was very well fed that day.
***
“Saki-chan, I want your playground ball!” Hiruma said to Saki, a girl in his class, and held out his hand to the small girl.
“N-no way!” Saki shook her head. “I waited in line for this ball! Get your own!”
“I bet that Ranpo-kun would just LOVE to hear that you have a crush on him!”
“Fine! Have it!” Saki cried, tears coming to her eyes as she passed the ball to Hiruma. “I-It’s not like you have anyone to play with anyway!” With that, Saki and her friends walked off towards the swing set, leaving Hiruma alone. He looked down at the playground ball and bounced it slightly. True…Hiruma had no one to play with.
He had threatened everyone in the fifth, fourth, third, second, first and sometimes even sixth grade. This, obviously, hadn’t made him many friends, but Hiruma didn’t mind much. After all, if you bully everyone, who would possibly want to be your friend?
Well…
He didn’t bully everyone.
“Mikkoku-chan!”
A short girl with long brown hair and a flower hairclip looked up to see Hiruma walking towards her, the playground ball under his harm. Mikkoku was next to her three best friends, Chikage, Shizuka, and Ruri. Hiruma, however, ignored them and went straight up to talk to Mikkoku. “I got the best playground ball! Let’s play handball!”
“No thanks…” Mikkoku shook her head and spoke quietly. “You always throw the ball too fast.”
“I’ll do it slower!” Hiruma grinned. “But not much slower! I still want to win!”
“Uhh…I-I already promised Chikage and the others that we were playing pretend today,” Mikkoku said. “Sorry…”
“Oh…” Hiruma stopped. “Can I play?”
“No!” Shizuka interrupted, shaking her head. “We’re playing princesses, so you can’t play, Hiruma-kun!”
“Then I’ll just be the King!” Hiruma said, stomping his foot on the ground. “You’d better let me play!”
“Just leave us alone Hiruma!” Ruri said, grabbing Mikkoku’s hand. “We don’t want to play with you!”
The girls all grabbed each other’s hands and started to stalk off from the blond haired boy. Surprisingly enough, he hadn’t even reached for his threat book…
***
“Hiruma-kun makes me so mad!” Kosuki muttered to the other kids in class as they stood outside the fourth grade classroom. Hiruma had already left school, and, as usual, the kids who would stay after school would vent their frustrations on the demon classmate of theirs.
“He’s so mean!” Ruri agreed.
“And he always threatens us into giving us his stuff!” another student added.
“No one’s safe from Hiruma in this school!” Kosuki sighed, shaking his head. “He picks on everyone!”
“Not everyone.”
The students looked up to see none other then Shizuka smiling at them, a bright spark in her eye. “I’ve noticed something. There’s one person that Hiruma never bullies!”
“Who?” Minoru asked, biting down on an apple. “He even gets to the teachers!”
“Mikkoku-chan.”
There was a pause, and the other students looked at one another and nodded, realizing this was true. “Hiruma never picks on Mikkoku!”
“He’s actually nice to her!”
“And she never has to give him desert!”
“I think I know why!” Shizuka said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Hiruma likes Mikkoku-chan!”
There was a huge pause, and the students all looked at one another. “Like…like like?” Kosuki asked, and Shizuka nodded.
“I say we get back at Hiruma for everything he’s ever done to us!” Shizuka said, stepping foreword. “I’ve got an idea! Everyone listen up!”
***
“Hiruma-kun!”
It was the next day, and Hiruma had just exited class that afternoon to see Chikage and Shizuka running towards him, a letter in their hands. They giggled and handed the paper to Hiruma, who looked at it oddly. “That’s from Mikkoku!”
“Mikkoku?” Hiruma asked, looking at the letter. “What’s it about?”
“It’s a love letter silly!” Chikage said and Hiruma looked up, his eyes wide. “Mikkoku must have a crush on you! She told us to give you that!”
Hiruma opened the letter and folded it up again. “Feh. Whatever…” With that, he turned around and headed towards the parking lot. Chikage and Shizuka looked at each other and giggled to themselves as they watched Hiruma go.
***
“Oh wow! He actually fell for it!”
“What an idiot!”
“How long has he been waiting?”
“Almost two hours!”
“What a loser!”
“Finally! Hiruma gets paid back for all the nasty things he ever did to us!”
Hiruma stood up against the big oak tree in the park, looking at the sidewalk. He sat down, frowning, and pulled out the letter again.
Hiruma-kun
I’ve always had a crush on you. I think we should be boyfriend and girlfriend. I think you really like me too, so come to the big oak tree in the middle of the park near the school. I’ll be waiting for you!
Mikkoku-chan
He frowned again, stuck the letter back in his pocket, and sat down. “She’s coming…”
***
Mikkoku never came. He had waited until his mother had come and found him there well into the night. For the first time in his life, Hiruma had gotten the sharp end of his bullying, and he felt not only humiliated, but hurt.
And so, almost eight years later, Hiruma walked towards the intended destination of the latest letter. He turned his head as he reached the toolshed near the pipes. He took a few steps past the water cooler to see the girl who had given the letter.
“Hiruma! You got my note.” Mamori turned around, wiping off her brow. “I found that suitcase you told me to dig up.” She said, brushing off the dirt that had collected on her shirt from the digging. “But why’d you bury your money?”
“Heh, heh, it’s not mine, damn manager,” Hiruma grinned evilly.
“HIRUMA! You’ve got to return that money!” Mamori said as Hiruma kissed the case with satisfaction.
“Hey, you want funds for the team, right?” He gave his usual sadistic smirk. “And I’m sure that Echiyo-sensei won’t miss 100,000 yen!”
“HIRUMA!” Mamori called after the quarterback, following him in hot pursuit. “Hiruma, you’re horrible!”
“Oh, and damn manager,” Hiruma stopped suddenly, and Mamori stopped as well, almost running into Hiruma’s back. “Thanks.”
“Huh? For what?” Mamori asked. “If it’s for getting you that stolen money then I’d rather not be--”
“Thanks for being there.”
Mamori blinked, surprised at what Hiruma had just said. She nodded slightly, “Umm…sure…okay…you’re welcome.”
With that, the two walked off, suitcase in hand, that night in the park now pushed out of his mind.
End.
Hiruma x Mamori
Youichi Hiruma had always been known around Deimon High School as a belligerent tyrant. A demon, a devil, and someone who would blackmail anyone without batting an eye. His book of threats was a constant accessory dangling in his pocket, and he often had a large pen on hand, ready to jot down whatever he heard.
Hiruma had been this way for as long as he could remember. It was natural behavior to him, so of course if there had been any drastic change, he probably would have missed it.
“Hiruma?”
Hiruma looked up to Kurita, his teammate and friend, smiling at him from one of the chairs in the Deimon Devil Bats American Football clubhouse. Hiruma was sitting on a stool, typing away on his computer. He looked up at Kurita’s calling. “What is it, damn fatty?”
“This is for you,” he told him, passing him a letter. Hiruma’s eyes widened and he took it with his long fingers. “It was left in here. Do you think it could be…?”
“A LOVE LETTER FOR HIRUMA?! MAXI-SHOCK!” screamed the team’s receiver, Raimon Taro, otherwise known as Monta.
“Monta-kun!” Sena covered his ears as his friend screamed loudly. “That hurts my ears!” Sena was a petite boy who acted as one of the managers of the Deimon Devilbats. However, in truth, he was secretly the ace running back by the alias of Eyeshield 21. After donning the tinted eyeshield as well as his uniform, Sena had spent as long as he could remember hiding his identity.
“Who’s it from?” Monta asked, stepping forward. Hiruma opened the letter and read it silently. His eyes widened and he closed the letter, placing it in his pocket.
“None of your damn business, damn monkey.” Hiruma stood up and walked towards the clubhouse door. “I’m going out for a bit. As for you damn pipsqueaks…” Hiruma gave a devilish grin. “I want you BOTH to run fifty laps around the school!”
“WHAT?”
“MAXI-SHOCK!”
“What? You don’t want to do it…?” Hiruma grinned evilly. He took a deep breath and braced himself for what was coming next. “CERBERUS!”
In less then a moment, the team’s devil dog, Cerberus was on the heels of Sena and Monta, chasing them out of the clubhouse and around the school. Hiruma laughed maniacally as he watched the two go.
“So is it a love letter?” Kurita asked and Hiruma turned to him.
“Something like that…” Hiruma shrugged. With that, Hiruma rounded on his heel and began to walk out of the clubhouse.
***
“Kosuki-kun, give me your cupcake!”
“Huh? No way Hiruma!” Kosuki complained. It was the usual afternoon at the Amefuto elementary school. The fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were all eating lunch, and, just as usual, Hiruma, the nastiest kid in the fourth grade, was bullying the other students. “I want to eat my cupcake!”
“All this over a silly cupcake?” Hiruma grinned, taking out a small black book from his backpack. Written on the front of the book in sloppy lettering were the words “THRET BOOK”. (Hiruma kept forgetting to look up “threat” in the dictionary.) “Hmm, you wouldn’t want me to tell Namiko-sensei that you were the one who forgot to feed Mamo the goldfish, would you?”
“Here, have it…” Kosuki’s lower lip trembled as he handed over the cupcake to Hiruma, who greedily devoured it in one bite.
“Minoru-kun, give me your homework!” Hiruma held out his chocolate frosting covered hand to a pudgy boy in the class who was currently drinking his milk.
“That’s cheating, Youichi-kun!” Minoru spluttered, only to be hit with a spray of water from a water gun.
“Shut up damn pudgy!” Hiruma shouted, and the fifth graders gasped.
“Hiruma said a bad word!”
“Damn babies! Stop your damn whining and give me all your deserts! If you don’t, I’ll tell the Principal that you guys carved the holes in the slide with rocks!”
Hiruma was very well fed that day.
***
“Saki-chan, I want your playground ball!” Hiruma said to Saki, a girl in his class, and held out his hand to the small girl.
“N-no way!” Saki shook her head. “I waited in line for this ball! Get your own!”
“I bet that Ranpo-kun would just LOVE to hear that you have a crush on him!”
“Fine! Have it!” Saki cried, tears coming to her eyes as she passed the ball to Hiruma. “I-It’s not like you have anyone to play with anyway!” With that, Saki and her friends walked off towards the swing set, leaving Hiruma alone. He looked down at the playground ball and bounced it slightly. True…Hiruma had no one to play with.
He had threatened everyone in the fifth, fourth, third, second, first and sometimes even sixth grade. This, obviously, hadn’t made him many friends, but Hiruma didn’t mind much. After all, if you bully everyone, who would possibly want to be your friend?
Well…
He didn’t bully everyone.
“Mikkoku-chan!”
A short girl with long brown hair and a flower hairclip looked up to see Hiruma walking towards her, the playground ball under his harm. Mikkoku was next to her three best friends, Chikage, Shizuka, and Ruri. Hiruma, however, ignored them and went straight up to talk to Mikkoku. “I got the best playground ball! Let’s play handball!”
“No thanks…” Mikkoku shook her head and spoke quietly. “You always throw the ball too fast.”
“I’ll do it slower!” Hiruma grinned. “But not much slower! I still want to win!”
“Uhh…I-I already promised Chikage and the others that we were playing pretend today,” Mikkoku said. “Sorry…”
“Oh…” Hiruma stopped. “Can I play?”
“No!” Shizuka interrupted, shaking her head. “We’re playing princesses, so you can’t play, Hiruma-kun!”
“Then I’ll just be the King!” Hiruma said, stomping his foot on the ground. “You’d better let me play!”
“Just leave us alone Hiruma!” Ruri said, grabbing Mikkoku’s hand. “We don’t want to play with you!”
The girls all grabbed each other’s hands and started to stalk off from the blond haired boy. Surprisingly enough, he hadn’t even reached for his threat book…
***
“Hiruma-kun makes me so mad!” Kosuki muttered to the other kids in class as they stood outside the fourth grade classroom. Hiruma had already left school, and, as usual, the kids who would stay after school would vent their frustrations on the demon classmate of theirs.
“He’s so mean!” Ruri agreed.
“And he always threatens us into giving us his stuff!” another student added.
“No one’s safe from Hiruma in this school!” Kosuki sighed, shaking his head. “He picks on everyone!”
“Not everyone.”
The students looked up to see none other then Shizuka smiling at them, a bright spark in her eye. “I’ve noticed something. There’s one person that Hiruma never bullies!”
“Who?” Minoru asked, biting down on an apple. “He even gets to the teachers!”
“Mikkoku-chan.”
There was a pause, and the other students looked at one another and nodded, realizing this was true. “Hiruma never picks on Mikkoku!”
“He’s actually nice to her!”
“And she never has to give him desert!”
“I think I know why!” Shizuka said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Hiruma likes Mikkoku-chan!”
There was a huge pause, and the students all looked at one another. “Like…like like?” Kosuki asked, and Shizuka nodded.
“I say we get back at Hiruma for everything he’s ever done to us!” Shizuka said, stepping foreword. “I’ve got an idea! Everyone listen up!”
***
“Hiruma-kun!”
It was the next day, and Hiruma had just exited class that afternoon to see Chikage and Shizuka running towards him, a letter in their hands. They giggled and handed the paper to Hiruma, who looked at it oddly. “That’s from Mikkoku!”
“Mikkoku?” Hiruma asked, looking at the letter. “What’s it about?”
“It’s a love letter silly!” Chikage said and Hiruma looked up, his eyes wide. “Mikkoku must have a crush on you! She told us to give you that!”
Hiruma opened the letter and folded it up again. “Feh. Whatever…” With that, he turned around and headed towards the parking lot. Chikage and Shizuka looked at each other and giggled to themselves as they watched Hiruma go.
***
“Oh wow! He actually fell for it!”
“What an idiot!”
“How long has he been waiting?”
“Almost two hours!”
“What a loser!”
“Finally! Hiruma gets paid back for all the nasty things he ever did to us!”
Hiruma stood up against the big oak tree in the park, looking at the sidewalk. He sat down, frowning, and pulled out the letter again.
Hiruma-kun
I’ve always had a crush on you. I think we should be boyfriend and girlfriend. I think you really like me too, so come to the big oak tree in the middle of the park near the school. I’ll be waiting for you!
Mikkoku-chan
He frowned again, stuck the letter back in his pocket, and sat down. “She’s coming…”
***
Mikkoku never came. He had waited until his mother had come and found him there well into the night. For the first time in his life, Hiruma had gotten the sharp end of his bullying, and he felt not only humiliated, but hurt.
And so, almost eight years later, Hiruma walked towards the intended destination of the latest letter. He turned his head as he reached the toolshed near the pipes. He took a few steps past the water cooler to see the girl who had given the letter.
“Hiruma! You got my note.” Mamori turned around, wiping off her brow. “I found that suitcase you told me to dig up.” She said, brushing off the dirt that had collected on her shirt from the digging. “But why’d you bury your money?”
“Heh, heh, it’s not mine, damn manager,” Hiruma grinned evilly.
“HIRUMA! You’ve got to return that money!” Mamori said as Hiruma kissed the case with satisfaction.
“Hey, you want funds for the team, right?” He gave his usual sadistic smirk. “And I’m sure that Echiyo-sensei won’t miss 100,000 yen!”
“HIRUMA!” Mamori called after the quarterback, following him in hot pursuit. “Hiruma, you’re horrible!”
“Oh, and damn manager,” Hiruma stopped suddenly, and Mamori stopped as well, almost running into Hiruma’s back. “Thanks.”
“Huh? For what?” Mamori asked. “If it’s for getting you that stolen money then I’d rather not be--”
“Thanks for being there.”
Mamori blinked, surprised at what Hiruma had just said. She nodded slightly, “Umm…sure…okay…you’re welcome.”
With that, the two walked off, suitcase in hand, that night in the park now pushed out of his mind.
End.